How did this happen?
by Witch4
Summary: Post Sandcastles in the Sand. What is going through Barney & Robin's minds. Rated for language.
1. Robin's POV

How did this happen? - Chapter 1 - Robin's POV

Author's note: Okay, so I wrote this when I was half awake and a little bit high on the adrenaline I have been running on for the past few weeks, so all mistakes are mine. Also, I own nothing. And now, the story.

How did it come to this? How did it come to me and Barney "monogomy-is-against-my-religion" Stinson, alone in my apartment, making out to the sounds of my no hit wonder second music video?

Okay, yes, I admit that I _have_ been giving him subtle hints every now and then for the past three years, but it was always just to make Ted jealous. Not that he ever noticed, I just always thought that it might be nice to see if Ted had really been paying so much attention to me as he'd said he had.

With Barney, I get to be myself. I'll admit, it is a bit strange, but I like that I don't have to hide the part of me that likes to smoke, drink, and beat kids at laser tag (although I do drink when I'm with the others, I just get to drink harder stuff when I'm around Barney). It's not like I don't enjoy being a girly-girl when I'm with Lily, or a really good friend when I'm around Ted and Marshall. I do, honestly. It's just that I like to (metaphornically) let my hair down every once and a while, and it just usually happens when I'm with Barney.

And, before tonight, if I ever had doubts about Barney's devil may care attitude, I just had to remember during the whole drama that was Lily and Marshall's wedding countdown and they were looking for a band to play at the reception and we snuck into that prom, I was genuinly surprised and beyond happy when he placed the corsage on my wrist, I completely forgot how secretly annoyed I had been when he told me & Lily to "slut up."

There have been other times that I've looked past the player and seen what Barney could really be...Okay, that sounded a little too much like something from a Lifetime movie. But I have first-hand knowledge that he really can be a nice guy when the occassion calls for it.

For example, when he found me at the bar, after the others had left and I was left alone to cry in our both over the fact that Simon had broken up with me _again_, after a "Foreskins" concert _again_, after which I loaded up the band's equipment _again_, and in the same van _again_ (okay, I think I might be a little out of it from the crying, alcohol, and kissing, but Simon really did not help my self-esteem), he actually asked me what was wrong, made fun of me in his strange way of caring, and comforted me, I thought I had walked into the _Twilight Zone_ or something.

But no, Barney was actually being nice and caring and acting like a genuine friend. Telling me that I was stupid to want to be 16 again was, although slightly tactless, just the thing I needed to hear. He was right when he said that I was really lame in thyose music videos. As a sixteen-year-old Canadian pop star, I was about as sheltered as a person could get when they were on the road with a bunch of guys for an entire year. I didn't really know that much about the world, and Simon breaking my heart was one of the worst experiences of my life. I truly had no idea that, while I was happy, I was definitely not one of the cool people.

It really does make a girl happy to hear one of New York CIty's swingingest bachelors tell her that she is the second most awesome person, after Mirror Barney. Some might see that as a bit mean-spirited since I just got dumped, but when someone like Barney says it, you know that he has only good intentions towards you. It felt even better when he told me that I will always be even more awesome then Simon ever will be.

I guess that's why I asked him if he wanted to come back to my apartment. And when he looked at me with utter astonishment ("Your place?"), I guess I just had to tell him that I'd let him watch "Sandcastles in the Sand" (provided that he never tells a living soul about this). Although, I will admit that, after watching it a number of times with the Mr. Awesome, I do feel a whole hell fo a lot better about myself then I did when Barney found me at MacLaren's earlier tonight. And I'm glad I let Barney be the one to put the tape in, otherwise I might have been tempted to destroy the damn thing. But, watching the tape was something nice I felt I could do for the one person who was there for me in the end, after the others had given me their simpathy and the company one typically enjoys with alcohol.

The video's over now, and we've stopped kissing (the constant whir of an old VHS video in a semi-new VCR player was annoying him, he said). Now that I have some time to think (who knew Barney was such a good kisser?), I realize that...I have no idea what's going to happen! He's being so nice to me, so un-Barney-like (a part of me wonders if he somehow managed to steal the nice part of James), that I'm wondering what is actually going on. I'll need to think about this some more, but for now, since Barney's attention has turned away from the now-off TV, I might just have to wait for the wondering bit to commence.

Did I mention that alcohol _may_ have played a part in tonight?

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Well? I hope you all liked it. Chapter 2 will hopefully be up by Monday (if I can manage to study for exams).


	2. Barney's POV

How did this happen? - Chapter 2 - Barney's POV

Author's note: Yay! Reviews! Thankies! Enjoy!

Also, all mistakes are mine.

What the hell are we doing? How did we go from (re-)watching one of the GREATEST videos ever made to making out on Robin's couch? Is making out with a bro even in the rules of Brohood? (Note to self: make rule about bros making out.)

Anyway, tonight, after three fruitless days of searching for the illusive second Robin Sparkles music video, I decided to approach Robin again about letting me see the tape. Only, when I got to MacLaren's, I found her alone and crying over the same guy that broke her heart 10 years ago. Now, normally the sight of a crying female will send me running out of the room faster than you can say "Barney has left the building," but this was different. This was Robin, my bro, my other bro's ex, and one of, if not the only, sexiest TV news anchor in all of New York.

Which is why, once she told me what had happened tonight after the concert, I slid next to her in our booth (really, the only place I should ever be in that booth is next to Robin...wait-what?), held her, and told her that she is the most awesome, well second most awesome (after a guy that lives in a place I like to call the mirror...What up!) person I know.

Which now, somehow, brings us back to the question: How the _hell_ did this happen?

James, my beyond awesome brother, would say that old Barney, embarrassing videotape Barney, had broken through and decided that that moment was when I needed to be "true Barney." Of course, I think he was drunk the last time he said that to me.

But anyway, I know that can't be the answer. I mean, I was just being the awesome friend that I am. She knows that, right?

Why else would she think why I told her that she was stupid to want to be 16 again. The kiss during the, what was it, sixth? viewing of "Sandcastles in the Sand" was just perfect timing on my part since the song's a sad love ballad that talks about going all the way.

And now that we've stopped kissing, at least for the moment, I notice that the video's finished playing and that annoying whirring sound that some VCRs make when they're finished playing is coming from the direction of the TV set. I reach over to the coffee table, take the remote, and turn off the TV/VCR combo to cease the annoying whir of finished tape.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, or really just lady, time for the activities to recommence...

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Hope that chapter made sense. More may come at an as yet unknown time.


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